ABSTRACT

Changes in the interest group system helped to stimulate the scholarly rediscovery of interest group research. Rather, the changes that characterize interest group politics are products of developments in the larger political system, such as changes in the role and structure of government, in the conditions necessary for the organization of groups, and in communications technology, political parties, and electoral mobilization. Fear and fascination, trepidation and trust, despair and delight go hand in hand when it comes to American attitudes about interest groups. The landscape of the interest group system was also changed by the emergence of relationships between groups and government. The metaphor of subgovernments or iron triangles has long been used to describe the symbiotic relationship that exists among interest groups, legislators, and agency bureaucrats, especially in the policy domains of agriculture, public works, and defense. Political power for the pluralists was dispersed among political institutions and interest groups.